An absorbing biography of the great leaderwho was the bridge between ancient and modern Europe — the firstmajor study in more than twenty-five years. Charlemagne was an extraordinary figure: aningenious military strategist, a wise but ruthless leader, acunning politician, and a devout believer who ensured the survivalof Christianity in the West. He also believed himself above therules of the church, siring bastards across Europe, and coldlyordering the execution of 4,500 prisoners. Derek Wilson shows howthis complicated, fascinating man married the military might of hisarmy to the spiritual force of the Church in Rome, thereby forgingWestern Christendom. This is a remarkable portrait of Charlemagneand of the intricate political, religious, and cultural world hedominated.

There has never been a golfer to rival Arnold Palmer. To thelegions of golf fans around the world, Palmer is a charismatichero, the winner of sixty-one tournaments on the PGA Tour and stillgoing strong on the Senior PGA Tour. But behind the legend, thereis the private Palmer--a man of wit, compassion, loyalty, and truegrit in the face of personal adversity. Writing with the humor and candor that are as much his trademarkas his unique golf swing, Palmer narrates the deeply moving storyof his life both on and off the links. He recounts the lovingrelationship he shared with his father, "Deacon" Palmer, the coursesuperintendent and head professional at the Latrobe Country Clubwhere young Arnie developed his game, his friendships and rivalrieswith golf greats, his enduringly happy marriage with Winnie, hislegendary charges to triumph and titanic disasters, and his valiantbattle against cancer and remarkable recovery. Arnold Palmer has lived one of the great sporting lives of thetwentieth century

Portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the Martin Scorsese movie The Aviator , Howard Hughes is legendary as a playboy andpilot—but he is notorious for what he became: the ultimate mysteryman. Citizen Hughes is the New York Times bestsellingexposé of Hughes’s hidden life, and a stunning revelation of his“megalomaniac empire in the emperor’s own words”( Newsweek ). At the height of his wealth, power, and invisibility, the world’srichest and most secretive man kept what amounted to a diary. Thebillionaire commanded his empire by correspondence, scrawlingthousands of handwritten memos to unseen henchmen. It was the onlytime Howard Hughes risked writing down his orders, plans, thoughts,fears, and desires. Hughes claimed the papers were sosensitive—“the very most confidential, almost sacred information asto my innermost activities”—that not even his most trusted aides orexecutives were allowed to keep the messages he sent them. Butin the early-morning hours of June 5, 1974, unknown burglars s

does eminem matter? On assignment for his first cover story for Rolling Stone, thevery first national cover story on Eminem, Anthony Bozza met ayoung blond kid, a rapper who would soon take the country by storm.But back in 1999, Eminem was just beginning to make waves amongsuburban white teenagers as his first single, “My Name Is,” wentinto heavy rotation on MTV. Who could have predicted that in a mere two years, Eminem wouldbecome the most reviled and controversial hip-hop figure ever? Orthat twelve months after that, Eminem would sit firmly at thepinnacle of American celebrity, a Grammy winner many times over andthe recipient of an Oscar. did eminem change or did america finally figure him out? Whatever You Say I Am attempts to answer this question and manymore. Since their first meeting, Bozza has been given a level ofaccess to Eminem that no other journalist has enjoyed. In WhateverYou Say I Am, original, never-before-published text from Bozza’sinterviews with Eminem a

"Mark Twain's autobiography is a classic of American letters, tobe ranked with the autobiographies of Benjamin Franklin and HenryAdams.... It has the marks of greatness in it--style, scope,imagination, laughter, tragedy."--From the Introduction by CharlesNeider Mark Twain was a figure larger thanfife: massive in talent, eruptive in temperament, unpredictable inhis actions. He crafted stories of heroism, adventure, tragedy, andcomedy that reflected the changing America of the time, and hetells his own story--which includes sixteen pages of photos--withthe same flair he brought to his fiction. Writing thisautobiography on his deathbed, Twain vowed to he "free and frankand unembarrassed" in the recounting of his life and hisexperiences. Twain was more than a match for theexpanding America of riverboats, gold rushes, and the vast westwardmovement, which provided the material for his novels and whichserved to inspire this beloved and uniquely Americanautobiography.

The adventure begins when Meg’s mother, Addie, vacationing inFlorida, takes a spill. At the hospital, Addie bolts upright on hergurney and yells “I demand an autopsy!” before passing outcold. “One minute, she is unconscious, the next, she’s nuts,” observesMeg Federico in this hilarious and poignant memoir of taking careof eighty-year-old Addie and her relatively new (and equally old)husband, Walter, in their not-so-golden years. Addie’s accident is a portent of things to come over the next twoyears as Meg oversees her mother’s home care in the DepartureLounge, the nickname Meg gives Addie and Walter’s house in suburbanNew Jersey. It is a place of odd behaviors and clashing caregivers,where chaos and confusion reign supreme. Meg had expected that Addie and Walter would settle into aRockwellian dotage of docile dependency. Instead the pair regressinto terrible teens. Meg watches from the sidelines in disbelief asher mother and stepfather, forbidden by doctors to drink, conspireto order cas

A shimmering evocation, by turns intimate and panoramic, of oneof the world’s great cities, by its foremost writer. Orhan Pamukwas born in Istanbul and still lives in the family apartmentbuilding where his mother first held him in her arms. His portraitof his city is thus also a self-portrait, refracted by memory andthe melancholy–or h ü z ü n– that all Istanbullus share: the sadness that comes of living amid theruins of a lost empire. With cinematic fluidity, Pamuk moves from his glamorous, unhappyparents to the gorgeous, decrepit mansions overlooking theBosphorus; from the dawning of his self-consciousness to thewriters and painters–both Turkish and foreign–who would shape hisconsciousness of his city. Like Joyce’s Dublin and Borges’ BuenosAires, Pamuk’s Istanbul is a triumphant encounter of placeand sensibility, beautifully written and immensely moving.

Almost two decades after its original publication and morethan 15 years after its author retired from the New York Knicks tobecome a U.S. Senator, Bradley's account of 20 days in a probasketball season remains a classic in sports literature. Readersare taken from the teamwork of a winning game to the loneliness ofa hotel room in a strange city. With a new introduction by theauthor.

Frédéric Chopin’s reputation as one of the Great Romanticsendures, but as Benita Eisler reveals in her elegant and elegiacbiography, the man was more complicated than his iconicimage. A classicist, conservative, and dandy who relished his conquestof Parisian society, the Polish émigré was for a while blessed withgenius, acclaim, and the love of Europe’s most infamous womanwriter, George Sand. But by the age of 39, the man whose brilliantcompositions had thrilled audiences in the most fashionable salonslay dying of consumption, penniless and abandoned by his lover. Inthe fall of 1849, his lavish funeral was attended by thousands—butnot by George Sand. In this intimate portrait of an embattled man, Eisler tells thestory of a turbulent love affair, of pain and loss redeemed by art,and of worlds—both private and public—convulsed by momentouschange.